War Comes to Florida: Race

World War II sowed the seeds of the modern civil rights movement in the United States and Florida. When the war broke out, African-American newspapers—keenly aware of the disappointments following the First World War—articulated a “Double-V” campaign: Victory against tyranny abroad, but also victory over racism at home.

Over 50,000 Florida African-Americans served in the armed forces during the conflict. Their experiences in the Deep South, North, and overseas profoundly affected their lives and post-war views. The NAACP in Florida grew rapidly during the war, in part the result of prosperity, in part the result of so many grievances over equal work and racism suffered at southern military bases. A number of “race riots” erupted in Florida during the war, actions that deeply worried military and civilian officials.

But the war also offered signs of optimism and hope. On the home front, civil rights activist Harry T. Moore worked tirelessly to end racial injustices in the public school system. He effectively won black teachers equal salaries in a number of civil rights suits. Moore also agitated to end the White Primary. In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the White Primary was unconstitutional in Smith v. Allright. In the spring of 1945, black ministers led a “swim in” at a prominent white beach.

Letter from Paul McNutt, Federal Security Administrator, criticizing the policy of issuing separate Selective Service “calls” for white and black citizens. Part of the criticism is that white “husbands and fathers” are being called up while single black men are passed over in the draft. Mr. McNutt is concerned that this could lead to a lawsuit by a white registrant.

A report from J. Edgar Hoover of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on racial conditions in the United States. The study investigates whether “forces with foreign influence and anti-American ideology” are working “amongst the Negro people of the country.” Florida is dealt with beginning on the third page of this document.

Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

The Struggle for Voting Rights: A Series of Letters

A series of letters between Thurgood Marshall, E.L. Bryan, The Tampa Chapter of Sleeping Car Porters, and Norman Lacey regarding a lawsuit challenging the all-white primary for elections in Tampa. The series is not complete and does not reflect the ultimate outcome of the case. It does, however, reveal an interesting and somewhat tense dynamic between Thurgood Marshall and the Florida lawyers. The visual quality of the reproductions of Marshall’s letters is poor in some instances.

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